Prologue

It had been two years since the Lord Dragon had died, since he had sealed away the Dark One again, since the Fourth Age began. People spoke of him, Rand al'Thor, with the same reverence some would use for the Creator and across the land there were still farmers claiming to have met him, or known him, or seen him play his flute.

He played the flute wonderfully, they said, better than any other. They all felt blessed despite the world still repairing itself from the brink of collapse. It wouldn't be repaired for some time yet. The topless towers of Cairhien hadn't even been completed after more than twenty years since the Aiel War, and now they might have to wait twenty more still.

Farms were popping up again, but none far from villages and any small villages that might have existed before the Bore was sealed again were long deserted or pillaged by Trollocs in the days following up to the Last battle.

One of the newest settlements to spring up since the Last Battle ended was called Rhuidean. It was far from matching the stature of the city from which it got its name, but it was on its way there.

The reason for the name, to some, was obvious. It was the rapidly growing settlement surrounding the Black Tower. The people saw it fitting, though the Aiel didn't reframe from showing disgust at the name choice. The Black Tower and its Asha'man were the new People of the Dragon, in their own eyes, and they saw fit to make their own capital, even if they were stil part of Andor.

The settlement had expanded from barracks and basic living spaces to a sprawling near city that had begun to show everything from inns to smithies, seamstresses and anything else a city might have.

People were still wary of the Asha'man, as they were of the Aes Sedai, it had been too recently that many people had spent their lives frightened of men who could channel that they could easily accept them, but they were starting to become part of the world and they had become better than the arrogant and secluded men who were the trademark of an early Asha'man.

Now the Asha'man followed Androl's example, in both character and seeking Aes Sedai to be bonded with. Androl, now holding a position not only high esteem, but power within the Black Tower as Logain Ablar's second in command, much like the Keeper of the Chronicles in the White Tower, is what they think of when they hear the name Asha'man, Guardian.

Before he was mocked for his weak strength in the Power, but now that the world had no need for battles and killing and his knowledge was far more potent a tool than the power of any ten men of the Black Tower.

Logain was truly the leader of the Black Tower, the Dragon's Fang, taking pride in the once frightening symbol. He had been the last man the Dragon had left in charge and he had played a major role in the Last Battle. But most of the Asha'man knew he was a figurehead, he was powerful and driven but he was also broken by what he had suffered in the name of the light.

Everyone knew Androl was the true strength of the Black Tower, though it earned neither him nor Logain any ill will as they each had their own part to play.

Kaiden wished to follow after Androl. Not battle, no one wanted that, not with the Last Battle so fresh in memory, but he wanted to be the kind of man that Androl was.

He was stronger in the power, stronger than most, but Kaiden knew how little that meant. In the days before the Last Battle his nameday had scarce come more than twenty three times and he'd been at home in Kandor, meant to be a merchant if he'd ever listen so long. He wouldn't have minded, he always wanted to travel but with the land in turmoil there had been other responsibilities.

One of those responsibilities was to join the Kandori army but a group of Mazrim Taim's recruiters had gotten to him first. One of them had been a friend, years before the name Rand al'Thor was even heard of, and when he came back he was just another one of the M'Hael's black-hearted men. The thought of his burned corpse still brought him nightmares every so often, he wished he'd never seen the man again, but without him he'd have never have had the opportunities he had.

The spark wasn't inborn in him but he did have the ability and was now fast becoming very proficient. Just four months back he'd been raised from solider to Dedicated. More than three years for him to become Dedicated.

It would have been unheard of for someone to take so much time to advance in the early days of the Tower when men either moved through the ranks or were burnt out and killed. He preferred it this way. He had yet to find his talent, he hoped he had a good one, but his teachers and not to mention fellow Dedicated made sure he paced himself. Much like the White Tower's Accepted they were allowed more freedom upon achieving Dedicated but that did not stop a very close eye on every man in the Black Tower. It was too new, everything was still too unfamiliar for there be relaxed rules on the use of Saidin.

With the death of the Dragon and not to mention all the male Forsaken, almost any and all knowledge of Saidin was lost past what Mazrim Taim had sparingly passed on. Every day there were new discoveries and theories, but almost every day there were accidents too. Most weren't serious, but they happened often as the men of the Black Tower experimented with Saidin, usually a good ways away from others.

Kaiden sometimes wished that the Black Tower had Ajahs like the White Tower did, though perhaps he could just find a brown sister to be bound to. He didn't know many sisters though.

There was almost constant correspondence between the Logain and Cadsuane, the new Amyrlin Seat, and both Sisters and Asha'man were sent travelling between the two Towers. There was talk of the two merging, mostly by the men, the women still held too many prejudices towards the men for Kaiden to believe that it could happen anytime in the next hundred years, if not later. The introduction of the bonds had eased relations, however.

It really was a better world that he lived in now. He had clear memories of his childhood and life before the Dragon Reborn and they had never been like this. He had been privileged, but the world had not been.

Some said the Dragon's ta'veren nature was so strong it still pulled at the pattern after his death, what other explanation could there be for no wars between nations. Not even the Seanchan had touched the lands past what they had claimed in the days before the Last Battle.

These days with the world rebuilding around him, free of war, made Kaiden hopeful that it wouldn't just be referred to as the "Fourth Age" by later ages, but as the "Age of Legends" and he hoped that he could play his small part in making it that way.

The Wheel of Time turns, and Ages come and pass, leaving memories that become legend. Legend fades to myth, and even myth is long forgotten when the Age that gave it birth comes again. In one Age, called the Fourth Age by some, an Age yet to come, an Age long past, a wind blew through the clear streets of a city named Rhuidean. The wind was not the beginning. There are neither beginnings nor endings to the turning of the Wheel of Time. But it was a beginning.